Gambling is one of the world’s most popular pastimes with global revenues estimated at more than $10 trillion – including legal, illegal and online gambling. However, it is also associated with serious harms that include family and social relationships breaking down, deterioration of mental health and even poverty as household spending shifts away from essential goods and services to gambling.
It is estimated that 1.2% of the world’s population has a gambling disorder – often known as Problem Gambling. Symptoms of this disorder may include lying to loved ones, hiding gambling activity and relying on other people for money or financial assistance. People who gamble to the point of harming themselves and their families should seek treatment from a mental health professional. Psychotherapy is a term used for a variety of treatment techniques that can be used to help someone change unhealthy thoughts, emotions and behaviors.
A social practice theory (SPT) approach to gambling research focuses on the nexus of practices that comprise the global gambling industry and consumer behaviour. This approach aims to develop a theoretical framework that accounts for the different forces that frame this nexus. For example, neoliberalism, globalisation, liberalisation and market ideology have suffused the nexus of gambling practices and the way they are promoted, consumed and controlled [1]. This context provides fertile ground for both critical and normative perspectives on gambling.
